Duct-to-duct biliary reconstruction in pediatric living donor liver transplantation

The results of duct-to-duct biliary reconstruction in six pediatric patients who received a living donor liver transplant aged from 2 months to 11 yr old are reported. The graft was either entire or a part of the left lateral segments. The orifice of the bile duct of the graft was anastomosed to the recipients' hepatic duct in an end-to-end fashion by interrupted suture using 6-0 absorbable material. A transanastomotic external stent tube (4 Fr) was passed through the stump of the recipients' cystic duct. Mean time for reconstruction was 24 min. All the recipients survived the operation and reinitiated oral intake on postoperative day 3. There were no early biliary complications. One 5-yr-old boy suffered from an anastomotic stenosis 9 months after transplantation. He underwent re-anastomosis by Roux-en Y (R-Y) procedure and recovered uneventfully. Duct-to-duct anastomosis in pediatric living donor liver transplantation has benefits while the complication rate is comparable to R-Y reconstruction.